Brandon Montclare and Amy Reeder charmed the pants off of me last year with their “Halloween Eve” one-shot. I literally lost my pants. It was so quirky and delightful that it’s got a place in my rotation come every Halloween. But “Rocket Girl”? This is on another level.
Written by Brandon Montclare
Illustrated by Amy Reeder“BODIES IN MOTION TEND TO STAY IN MOTION…”
Teen future-cop DaYoung Johansson hits 1980s NYC like a meteor. People can’t get enough of the Rocket Girl: she’s fighting crime, saving citizens, and causing a sensation. But she’s also trying to right a wrong in a mystery so deep it could change the future forever. There’s a lot more going on here than anyone knows about — and it might be more than the 15-year-old super detective can handle.
“Rocket Girl” has landed its titular hero in the totally tubular 1980s – a fact that serves the comic and the characters in some really interesting ways. If you’re Montclare and Reeder, why choose the ’80s as an era for their time traveling cop to land in? Well, it’s definitely an easy decade to mine for cheap jokes and references. Thankfully, they don’t stoop to that. Save that stuff for Adam Sandler, right? Montclare’s humor is too specific and personal to waste time doing that.
Instead, Montclare and Reeder draw upon the ’80s to give their book a specific visual flare and a sharp contrast between a world that imagined itself on the brink of the future and the future itself. A great deal of “Rocket Girl’s” charm comes from how distinct this veneer is and how well it plays directly parallel to thematically similar scenes from Rocket Girl’s “present” time. Montclare shows a subtle touch in weaving those scenes together and not being too on-the-nose about how it all fits together. Similarly, Reeder makes the conscious decision to keep certain visual motifs as a link between times, while making sure that each era is distinct.
Reeder’ ability to sell her and Montclare’s specific comedy language is key to the whole thing working as well as it does. Dayoung opens the issue by making pancakes for her newfound, uh, roomies, I guess. It’s a playful visual and begins with totally good intentions, but Montclare and Reeder’s offbeat comedic sensibilities makes breakfast into almost background prop comedy to a different, more serious conversation that they’re all trying to have. Maybe Rocket Girl is trying to avoid that conversation. The pancakes are just one (overly literal, on my part) example of Reeder balancing a bunch of disparate visual energies and having it all make sense, be funny, and look gorgeous. To stick its landing, it ends with such a laugh-out-loud comedy beat that I dare not spoil it.
Reeder also injects heart and character beyond the levity. Dayoung is not a perfect heroine – her choices can sometimes backfire on her – but she has a clear sense of confidence in herself. It’s endearing, even if we can see trouble coming. Though the humor is very offbeat, and the character designs quite quirky, we can also take these characters seriously when it comes right down to it. They live and move in a quirky, neon-lit, futuristic world, so it’s only fitting. She’s not in her comfort zone for most of the issue, yet she launches herself into her next self-appointed “case.” Reeder’s dynamism makes me wonder whether DaYoung even wants a “comfort zone.”
“Rocket Girl” is one of those rare comics that can hit every note it tries to hit. Whether mugging for laughs – or pulling back to inspire awe, their approach ends up working. Montclare and Reeder clearly see their worlds, both real and imaginary, different from everyone else. But they’re on the same wavelength with one another, and “Rocket Girl” is the wonderful, imagination-fueled result of that.
Final Verdict: 8.8 – Buy
